telegram-event-publisher

This project integrates Google Calendar with Telegram, notifying users of their upcoming events for the month.

Prerequisites

Connect To Google Calendar Using A Service Account

Before continuing, make sure you have a Google Account.

Project Creation

• Go to the Google Cloud Console.
• Click on the project drop-down and then click on NEW PROJECT.
• Give your project a name and click CREATE.

Enable Google Calendar API

• In the left sidebar, navigate to APIs & Services > Library.
• Search for Google Calendar API and select it.
• Click ENABLE.

Service Account Creation

• In the left sidebar, navigate to IAM & Admin > Service accounts.
• Click on CREATE SERVICE ACCOUNT.
• Provide a name and description for the service account. Click CREATE.
• Grant the service account the required permissions. For basic calendar access, you can choose Role > Google Calendar API > Calendar Viewer. Click CONTINUE.
• Click DONE.

Download Credentials

• In the service accounts list, find the service account you just created.
• Click on its name to view details.
• In the KEYS tab, click on ADD KEY > JSON.
• A credentials.json file will be downloaded. This file contains the credentials your application will use to authenticate its API requests.

Share Your Google Calendar

If you're intending to access a specific Google Calendar, make sure to share it with your service account:

• Open Google Calendar.
• Next to your calendar's name, click on the three dots and choose Settings and sharing.
• Scroll to the `Share with specific people`` section.
• Click on + Add people and enter the email address of the service account (found in the service account details in Google Cloud Console).
• Set the desired permissions (e.g., See all event details) and click Send.

Telegram Bot Token and Channel ID

• Telegram Bot Tutorial.

Configuration

• Google Calendar:

  • credentials.json

• Telegram:

  • Environment Tokens.

Customization

• Event Formatting:

  • Modify the monthly_events_template.txt found in the templates directory to adjust the appearance of event messages.

• Extended Fields in Google Calendar:

  • When creating events in Google Calendar, you can specify additional details in the description as follows:

    Tickets: [Ticket Info]
    Location: [Location Info]
    Website: [Website URL]

  The application will parse these details and include them in the Telegram message.

Local Development

Prerequisites

• This project requires Python 3.11.

• Dependencies are managed using Poetry. If you haven't installed it yet, use this command:

  pip install poetry

• Pre-commit is used to enforce code quality. If you don't have pre-commit installed, you can install it using the following command:

  pip install pre-commit

Setting up the Development environment

1. Initialize pre-commit:

   pre-commit install

2. Install dependencies and activate the virtual environment:

   poetry install
   poetry shell

3. The following Environment Variables must exist locally to run this project.

   • GOOGLE_CALENDAR_ID - The ID of the calendar that is to be read from.
     • Go to Google Calendar.
     • Choose a Calendar:
       • On the left side of the page, you'll see a section titled My calendars. These are the calendars associated with your account.
       • Hover over the name of the calendar you're interested in. When you do, you'll notice three vertically aligned dots appear to the right of the calendar's name. This is the Options menu for that calendar.
     • Access Calendar Settings:
       • Click on the Options (three dots) next to the calendar name.
       • From the dropdown menu that appears, select Settings and sharing.
     • Find the Calendar ID:
       • In the settings page, scroll down to the “Integrate calendar” section.
       • Here, you'll find a field labeled Calendar ID. This is the ID you're looking for. It often looks like an email address and might end with @group.calendar.google.com.
   • TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID
   • TELEGRAM_API
   • GOOGLE_CREDENTIALS

     • Using the crendentials.json file downloaded as described in Download Credentials, store it's contents as an environment variable as shown below.

       export GOOGLE_CREDENTIALS=$(cat credentials.json)

Refrences

• Google Calendar API Python documention.